Saturday, June 20, 2009

Although considering Eric Burdon's voice and style, he'd possibly be offended by my labeling The Animals' music as "pop". For some reason, for a long time I thought they were Americans. It wasn't until Al Gore invented the internets that I could correct my mistake: they are - were - Brits, more precisely from Newcastle upon Tyne. If you go there, don't miss Tyne Bridge, Saint Nicholas Cathedral, and, of course, the Angel of the North.

Dionne Farris is an R&B/soul musician who, after recording three songs with hiphop group Arrested Development, embarked on a solo career which spawned one big hit, I know, from the album Wild Seed - Wild Flower (1995). I remember how this catchy song made my daily 40 kloms drive to the industrial plant where I worked then somewhat more bearable. "I Know" hit number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 96. She had a minor hit with Hopeless in 97.

Mind you, thank God she will not be sitting in the federal parliament (yet), but thus in the Brussels Parliament. Let me explain. In Belgium, the European elections of a couple of weeks ago coincided with regional elections, i.e. elections designating parliamentarians for the regional parliaments, of which there are three: a Flemish Parliament for the Flemish Region, a Walloon Parliament for the Walloon Region, and a Brussels Parliament for the Brussels Capital Region. It is indeed so that for Brussels a special region has been created, although geographically, Brussels lies embedded in Flanders. As such our capital, also the capital of the EU, is some kind of mini Washington DC, a situation indeed somewhat comparable with the District of Columbia which lies basically completely embedded in Maryland, but is neither a part of that state nor of Virginia. But back to Mahinur Ozdemir.

Scrutiny into Mrs. Ozdemire's past reveals she's a religious fanatic. As such her arrival does not bode well for the future of Brussels and by extension for the future of our country. The arrival of a vanguard of muslimfanaticism in a Belgian Parliament, even if it is a minor one, is but one part of phenomenon characterised by two dynamics, because the party Ozdemir joined... are the FORMER Walloon Christian Democrats. Indeed, a couple of years ago, the Cdh's chairwoman, Joelle Milquet, decreed that the "C" no longer stands for "Christian" but for "Centre", so Cdh is now a "centrist, democratic and humanist party".Officially, Wallonia has no Christan Democratic Party anymore.

So what we see here is the entry in a Belgian Parliament of a representative of a gruesome, inhuman belief system, that is nevertheless in ascendance ... and this dynamic coincides with the disappearance of representatives of a beautiful, caring faith that has given the world immense riches and untold generations of people hope and consolation, but is nevertheless fading away...

Mrs. Ozdemir will be the first headscarved woman sitting in a Belgian Parliament.